Reading maketh a man
Ishara Jayawardane
The National ceremony to celebrate the distribution of textbooks
among schoolchildren of 2011 will be held at Trincomalee Vivekananda
college on December 8 at 9 am.
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Commissioner General W M N J Pushpakumara. Picture by Saman
Mendis |
The country is now being shaped up in the image of the Mahinda
Chinthana. The Hambantota harbor has been developed. The Chamal
Rajapakse Agro Technological tourism park was opened recently. President
Mahinda Rajapaksa promised to take the country into a new golden age and
now his manifesto has lifted the children of Sri Lanka one step above.
It has been done by empowering these children through education so they
might rest on their own shoulders and survey a land of opportunities and
possibilities.
Schoolbooks will be distributed to children in all provinces. Copies
of 37 million books will be distributed. The entire cost of the project
will be Rs 3000 million.
“It’s the children of this country who will be the future owners of
this independent land. They accept that proud inheritance. It is
imperative that they should be children of intelligence, knowledge and
courage. I would like to teach them how to be a proud Sri Lankan who is
capable of meeting future challenges” states Mahinda Chinthanaya page
22.
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Provincial demand
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*Western 8,719,049
* Centra l 4,516,543
* South 4,578,160
*North 3,156,281
* East 4,055,215
* Wayamba 4,164,668
* North Central 2,283,022
* Uva 2,699,360
* Sabaragamuva 3,224,351 |
“Some students do not use their books well. They have no love for
their books. Thus they have not been able to enjoy the fruits of
learning. Children must love and preserve their books. These books will
be designed in such a way that there will be an attraction. If children
learn to respect their books then they will be responsible citizens.”
Said Educational Publications Department Commissioner General W M N J
Pushpakumara. Textbooks in 74 categories were found to be bulky with
numerous pages. They were printed in two volumes each in order to lessen
the weight.
Inability to provide schoolchildren with textbooks in time is a thing
of the past.
During the last two years as well as for the next year we will be
able to provide all necessary textbooks; 37 million belonging to 433
categories. Seventy-nine categories of bulky books were printed and
distributed in two volumes each. This was done for the purpose of
reducing the weight of schoolbags and also to facilitate the re-use of
these books.
In order to encourage the re-use of text books, measures were taken
to award certificates to students who have carefully used their text
books. This year three students from each grade were selected and were
awarded certificates. Four hundred thousand certificates were printed
for this purpose.
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